If necessary, you can review the the IPlan Assignment sheet here. Complete the process shown in the diagram below by following the steps and answering the questions for each step.
a. Take a few minutes to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.
As a teacher, I think that my content knowledge is my biggest strength. Answering questions as students ask them has not been a problem. I feel confident in my answers and can answer them in ways that can be understood by most students. This allows me to focus more energy on areas that are more student centered. My weakest area is probably being able to rephrase questions in multiple ways when I am hearing crickets after a couple of failed attempts at asking a question.
b. Describe some of your students' strengths and needs that you have noticed so far.
The strengths of my students range from being able to listen, comprehend and complete assignments, to taking it a step further by appying the knowledge to real life scenarios. When asked a question on a worksheet or quiz, these students answer the question and provide an example that shows their understanding. In other words they go beyond what the question requires to ensure they get full credit. These students like to be challenged and are interested in class discussions. Some of these students desire more. A few students have asked questions regarding current events topics. These questions involve areas of science that are cutting edge and are involved in som e complicated scientific thought. Only a student that masters the general concepts and understands connections between disciplines is able to understand such discussions. Some students require cues about what interests them to build their understanding. These students' desire to learn helps them as good students even if they do not have the greatest content knowledge.
c. Download and complete this URI Self Evaluation form based on one of the lessons you taught last week. Be sure to write down specific evidence from either your lesson plan or your memory of your enactment for each assessment you give. Use a highlighter to identify areas of your teaching/lesson that were either below standard or that you feel needs improvement.
a. Review your school improvement document(s). (If you forgot them, download a SALT visit.)
b. Synthesize your review by completing the following table as best your can:
What is the need?
How will improvement help your students?
How will improvement help your school?
RIBT Standard/Element Addressed?
1.
Larger school
ie: bigger area for classrooms
More opportunity for different classrooms, classes, and activities (extracurricular, after school)
Smaller class sizes, more space, less crowding, more organization, and more personalized space for teachers and students
Promotes different styles of learning (differentiated instruction, multiple eintelligences) due to more possible areas and opportunities for learning.
2.
Smaller class sizes
More attention to students, more individualized attention by teachers and special ed teachers.
Grades will alledgedly rise, both on informal school assessments as well as formal statewide, and school assessments.
Promotes differentiated instruction and more student based learning strategies due to small class sizes and the increased ability to individualize attention.
3.
Program to decrease paper use in school district.
It will promote recycling, and use of double sided copies, but will prevent the production and use of handouts that would be usually beneficial to learning, due to paper constraints.
Saves money, promotes conservation techniques.
4.
Formulate a professional development goal based the needs that you have identified. This goal should be:
measurable/observable
should lead to improvement of teaching, student achievement, and/or improvement of learning environment.
should describe new knowledge or skills that you will acquire and how that knowledge/skill will affect the school/district setting.
linked to applicable Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards and elements, e.g. RIBTS 2.4.
In the space below, describe your professional development goal. In a second paragraph, use the information above to provide a rationale for your goal by explaining the personal need that it will address as well as how addressing this goal benefits your students and your school.
I. Professional Development Goal
Due to the fact that there is no SALT report to observe for Chariho, I have compiled a list of needs that I have gathered based on meetings from faculty and administration. From observing the school's needs, and participating in faculty and department meetings, I have noticed first and foremost, how crowded it is. This affects the learning abilities of the students drastically. It also affects the teachers in how they are able to teach. From there, it becomes apparent that not enough attention can be given to the students due to the crowded atmosphere. Therefore the goal for professional development would be #1) to become a more organized teacher, and #2), to produce programs that can add to the diversity of classes, attract students with interest out of oversized classrooms, and prevent a stagnation of the learning environment due to too much mixing of learning levels/ abilities of students. This will allow growth and expansion in a learning environment due to less constraints put on the teacher to ensure that every level of learner in the classroom is being given equal attention. The class ultimately becomes more structured and organized to fit the goals of the students.
To accomplish the feat of producing effective programs for students that have a desire to learn, the teacher can participate in various programs designed to educate teachers, students and communities. Programs such as these can include, watershed modelling, narrow river water testing, plant identification of native and invasive species, geologic structures associated with our state, etc. These workshops enable teaches to become more in tune with their environment on the state level. The teachers are also familiar with their environment very personally as well, and gives them the resources and knowledge to teach students on a "do it yourself" basis, or through self guided instruction and hands on approaches. Workshops such as these could be used as extracurricular activities for interested students after taking into courses in Bio or Chem. They could also form an elective altogether, such as Env Science, Ecology, or Botany. Stricter disciplined subjects that branch off of generalized general education courses such as biology and chemistry, enable students and teachers to expand their content knowledge and explore wider avenues of education, content and interests. By doing this, intermediate level classes with mixes of upper level kids and lower level kids will not have as many dead zones associated with progress and disinterest, since the classes will be designed for the level of the students in the classrooms.
Based on what you have found out, write a 1-2 paragraph narrative outlining at least two ways (PD categories) you will engage in engage in by the end of your first year of teaching. For each activity, explain how you think it will address the need that you have identified.
II. Professional Development Plan
My plan would begin with discovering what the students find intersting in certain subjects, thinking about what those interests have in common with eachother, and looking ot see if there is a subdivision of a general education course that these interests are involved with, and making a course based upon these interests. In the summer, there are plenty of workshops available for teacher development opporetunities. The curriculum may even be used for graduate credit. These workshops will educate teachers on how to become experts in a single area of a subsect of a broad science topic. This allows for descriptive analysis and implementation of material that is moslty just touched upon in a broad Biology course. Some examples could be Plant ID of New England, Forensics, Environmental Geology, Botany, Env. Science. These classes obviously have to be funded somehow, and I realize that there are priorities for funds allocated throughout a school district that is constantly squeezing the artistic juices out of many programs. The goal is to make yourself more knowledgeable in more than one area. This allows for flexibility, more content knowledge and a chance for students to take advantage of the opportunity to learn something different when the interest presents itself.
If a class is not implemented, then a club could be. This would be interest only, unfunded, and unpaid...obviously. I am a fan of the outdoors, and much of environmental science is learned by looking at it in its "natural " or "destroyed" state. This part of learning has limitations by curriculums, school laws and restrictions, and by funding. This is why it can probably lead to only being a club. Who knows, maybe enough interest will garner a more of a demand in the future.
The second professional development I plan on doing is to have a group dedicated to making a classroom completely energy sufficient. I am interested in solar panels and will first begin my education on the subject by building one and installing it to the grid on my own house. Once I master the procedure, a group/ club will work on the science of it during the winter months, come up with a plan, and implement the final product during the spring. We can also study wind turbines, and other methods of renewable energy. I think that this is a huge area that will be involved in our society for rest of our lives. I think that by educating students about this aspect of science, it prepares them for real aspects of life; energy costs demands, business ventures, engineering ideas, moral dillemas, etc. It is not being taught yet to that degree in middle/ high school, and its only a matter of time til it is. It has to start somewhere. Another goal would be to compare the savings in energy costs by the school per year to the cost of programs that were disbanded due to fund cuts, and then when that cost has reached an adequate number, gather a political onslaught to the school council at the town hall budget meeting and raise the issue. It could go public.
Print your PD plan to PDF
Post your PD Plan to True Outcomes
Return to True Outcomes to evaluate a peer's plan the following week.
EDC 484 IPlan Synthesis
If necessary, you can review the the IPlan Assignment sheet here. Complete the process shown in the diagram below by following the steps and answering the questions for each step.
You can review the Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards (RIBTs) here.
a. Take a few minutes to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.
As a teacher, I think that my content knowledge is my biggest strength. Answering questions as students ask them has not been a problem. I feel confident in my answers and can answer them in ways that can be understood by most students. This allows me to focus more energy on areas that are more student centered. My weakest area is probably being able to rephrase questions in multiple ways when I am hearing crickets after a couple of failed attempts at asking a question.
b. Describe some of your students' strengths and needs that you have noticed so far.
The strengths of my students range from being able to listen, comprehend and complete assignments, to taking it a step further by appying the knowledge to real life scenarios. When asked a question on a worksheet or quiz, these students answer the question and provide an example that shows their understanding. In other words they go beyond what the question requires to ensure they get full credit. These students like to be challenged and are interested in class discussions. Some of these students desire more. A few students have asked questions regarding current events topics. These questions involve areas of science that are cutting edge and are involved in som e complicated scientific thought. Only a student that masters the general concepts and understands connections between disciplines is able to understand such discussions. Some students require cues about what interests them to build their understanding. These students' desire to learn helps them as good students even if they do not have the greatest content knowledge.
c. Download and complete this URI Self Evaluation form based on one of the lessons you taught last week. Be sure to write down specific evidence from either your lesson plan or your memory of your enactment for each assessment you give. Use a highlighter to identify areas of your teaching/lesson that were either below standard or that you feel needs improvement.
Student Evaluation Form
a. Review your school improvement document(s). (If you forgot them, download a SALT visit.)
b. Synthesize your review by completing the following table as best your can:
ie: bigger area for classrooms
Formulate a professional development goal based the needs that you have identified. This goal should be:
In the space below, describe your professional development goal. In a second paragraph, use the information above to provide a rationale for your goal by explaining the personal need that it will address as well as how addressing this goal benefits your students and your school.
I. Professional Development Goal
Due to the fact that there is no SALT report to observe for Chariho, I have compiled a list of needs that I have gathered based on meetings from faculty and administration. From observing the school's needs, and participating in faculty and department meetings, I have noticed first and foremost, how crowded it is. This affects the learning abilities of the students drastically. It also affects the teachers in how they are able to teach. From there, it becomes apparent that not enough attention can be given to the students due to the crowded atmosphere. Therefore the goal for professional development would be #1) to become a more organized teacher, and #2), to produce programs that can add to the diversity of classes, attract students with interest out of oversized classrooms, and prevent a stagnation of the learning environment due to too much mixing of learning levels/ abilities of students. This will allow growth and expansion in a learning environment due to less constraints put on the teacher to ensure that every level of learner in the classroom is being given equal attention. The class ultimately becomes more structured and organized to fit the goals of the students.
To accomplish the feat of producing effective programs for students that have a desire to learn, the teacher can participate in various programs designed to educate teachers, students and communities. Programs such as these can include, watershed modelling, narrow river water testing, plant identification of native and invasive species, geologic structures associated with our state, etc. These workshops enable teaches to become more in tune with their environment on the state level. The teachers are also familiar with their environment very personally as well, and gives them the resources and knowledge to teach students on a "do it yourself" basis, or through self guided instruction and hands on approaches. Workshops such as these could be used as extracurricular activities for interested students after taking into courses in Bio or Chem. They could also form an elective altogether, such as Env Science, Ecology, or Botany. Stricter disciplined subjects that branch off of generalized general education courses such as biology and chemistry, enable students and teachers to expand their content knowledge and explore wider avenues of education, content and interests. By doing this, intermediate level classes with mixes of upper level kids and lower level kids will not have as many dead zones associated with progress and disinterest, since the classes will be designed for the level of the students in the classrooms.
Based on what you have found out, write a 1-2 paragraph narrative outlining at least two ways (PD categories) you will engage in engage in by the end of your first year of teaching. For each activity, explain how you think it will address the need that you have identified.
II. Professional Development Plan
My plan would begin with discovering what the students find intersting in certain subjects, thinking about what those interests have in common with eachother, and looking ot see if there is a subdivision of a general education course that these interests are involved with, and making a course based upon these interests. In the summer, there are plenty of workshops available for teacher development opporetunities. The curriculum may even be used for graduate credit. These workshops will educate teachers on how to become experts in a single area of a subsect of a broad science topic. This allows for descriptive analysis and implementation of material that is moslty just touched upon in a broad Biology course. Some examples could be Plant ID of New England, Forensics, Environmental Geology, Botany, Env. Science. These classes obviously have to be funded somehow, and I realize that there are priorities for funds allocated throughout a school district that is constantly squeezing the artistic juices out of many programs. The goal is to make yourself more knowledgeable in more than one area. This allows for flexibility, more content knowledge and a chance for students to take advantage of the opportunity to learn something different when the interest presents itself.
If a class is not implemented, then a club could be. This would be interest only, unfunded, and unpaid...obviously. I am a fan of the outdoors, and much of environmental science is learned by looking at it in its "natural " or "destroyed" state. This part of learning has limitations by curriculums, school laws and restrictions, and by funding. This is why it can probably lead to only being a club. Who knows, maybe enough interest will garner a more of a demand in the future.
The second professional development I plan on doing is to have a group dedicated to making a classroom completely energy sufficient. I am interested in solar panels and will first begin my education on the subject by building one and installing it to the grid on my own house. Once I master the procedure, a group/ club will work on the science of it during the winter months, come up with a plan, and implement the final product during the spring. We can also study wind turbines, and other methods of renewable energy. I think that this is a huge area that will be involved in our society for rest of our lives. I think that by educating students about this aspect of science, it prepares them for real aspects of life; energy costs demands, business ventures, engineering ideas, moral dillemas, etc. It is not being taught yet to that degree in middle/ high school, and its only a matter of time til it is. It has to start somewhere. Another goal would be to compare the savings in energy costs by the school per year to the cost of programs that were disbanded due to fund cuts, and then when that cost has reached an adequate number, gather a political onslaught to the school council at the town hall budget meeting and raise the issue. It could go public.